Supreme Court Upholds Provisions in Collective Bargaining Agreement Requiring Employees to Arbitrate Discrimination Claims
The United States Supreme Court recently held that a collective bargaining agreement that clearly and unmistakably required union members to arbitrate claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act was enforceable as a matter of federal law. Although the decision in 14 Penn Plaza LLC v. Pyett only dealt with the ADEA, this is the first time that the Court has ordered compulsory arbitration under a union contract of such a statutory employment discrimination claim. Its reasoning may be interpreted to extend to discrimination claims based on other statutes that, like the ADEA, do not explicitly prohibit compulsory arbitration.